Here's What All Those Beauty Brand Acronyms Actually Mean

Here's a fun game: ask your friends (IDK, your BFF Jill?) whether MAC, NYX, or OPI can be found as an abbreviated term in an Instagram caption, or in your makeup bag. Depending on how versed they are in the beauty realm, the answers could prove to be pretty entertaining. If you scroll through our group text thread with our friends, you'd probably lose count at how many times we abbreviated something that probably didn't need to be shortened. Beauty brands have been in on that game long before this era, but at least in their case, the acronyms are warranted. Below, we've outlined some of the most popular abbreviated beauty brands, and exactly what each one stands for.

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e.l.f.

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NYX

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Funny enough, NYX isn't an abbreviation for anything—it's a nod to the Greek goddess of the night, who shares the same name, and would likely be down with the extensive rainbow of products that complement any occasion she might be headed to.

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IGK

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GHD

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Short for Good Hair Day, GHD's tools are so infamous in their native England that the brand name has taken on verb form. When you overhear someone say that they're going to get their hair GHD-ed, you know what's up.

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O.P.I.

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Fun fact, the meaning behind your favorite nail polish brand actually doesn't have anything to do with nail polish. Short for Odontorium Products Inc., the company was originally geared toward dental supply until Suzi Weiss-Fischmann came onboard and worked with biochemist R. Eric Montgomery to create an acrylic system, which was to local nail salons. The company pivoted toward nail products and closed out the dental sector, and began producing nail colors in 1989.

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SK-II

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SK-II, short for Secret Key II, was created after the brand founders visited a sake brewery and noticed that the hands of the elderly workers still looked super-young. The ingredient in the sake responsible for their youthful appearance was that of pitera, which was then singled out, patented, and incorporated into all of SK-II's formulas. Pretty safe to assume that pitera happens to be that secret key to hydrated, glowy skin.